Why doesn't the author depict Terkin's exploits? Lesson topic: Vasily Terkin - defender of his native country. The innovative character of Vasily Terkin's image. The truth about the war in the poem. Analysis of the chapter "Duel"
“The Book about a Soldier” (“Vasily Terkin”) by Alexander Tvardovsky became a popular book during the war, because its author managed to tell about the war through the mouth of a soldier, on whom the greatness of Russia and its freedom have always rested and will always rest. Even such a super-strict connoisseur as I. A. Bunin, who was openly hostile to Soviet literature, admired Terkin and the talent of its author. The peculiarities of wartime determined the artistic originality of the poem: it consists of separate chapters that are not connected by plot (“There is no plot in war,” says the author), each of which tells about some episode from the combat life of the main character. This composition of the work is also due to the fact that it was published in front-line newspapers, on separate leaflets, and the reader did not have the opportunity to follow the plot - who knows, whether the “continuation” of Tyorkin’s story will reach him, because war is war, one cannot guess here ...
Analysis of the chapter "Crossing"
In the chapter “The Crossing,” Tvardovsky defines the difference between this war and all previous ones: “The battle is holy and just. Mortal combat is not for the sake of glory, For the sake of life on earth.” These words express the author's position, the author's assessment of what is happening, which determines his view of events and heroes, and his attitude towards them. Tyorkin’s feat, described in this chapter, became an integral part of the general feat of the “guys” who completed their task at the cost of losses: “That night the bloody trail was carried out to the sea by a wave.” The “first platoon” that “clung” to the right bank is not left to the mercy of fate, they remember and worry about it, feeling guilty: “As if those on the left bank are to blame for something.” And at this dramatic moment, when the fate of the soldiers remaining on the wrong bank is unknown, Tyorkin appears, having swam across the winter river (“Yes, water.. It’s scary to think about. Even the fish are cold”) in order to report “The platoon on the right bank is alive and well out of spite.” to the enemy!" After he reports that the first platoon is ready to “secure the crossing,” Terkin returns to his comrades, again exposing himself to mortal danger, because his comrades are waiting for him - and he must return.
Analysis of the chapter "Two Soldiers"
The chapter "Two Soldiers" in a humorous spirit shows the connection between generations on which the fighting spirit of the army rests. Terkin, a soldier of the current war, and the “grandfather-master”, who won his own, paid his debt to the fatherland, quickly find a common language, and this happens not only because Terkin easily and simply solves all “economic problems”, but because both they are defenders of the Motherland, and their conversation is “a conversation... a soldier’s.” This half-joking conversation, in which each of the interlocutors strives to “pin” the other, actually concerns a very important topic - the outcome of the current war, the most important question that can only worry any Russian person now: “Answer: we will beat the German Or maybe won't we beat you?" This question is asked to Terkin by an old soldier, and Terkin’s answer, given by him when the soldier, preparing to leave, was already “at the very door,” is short and precise: “We’ll beat you, father...”. Here the author makes excellent use of punctuation: the ellipsis at the end of the sentence deprives this answer of “official patriotism”; it shows that Terkin knows how difficult the path to victory will be, but he is also confident that victory will definitely come, that the Russian soldier will be able to achieve it. From such an intonation of thought and confidence at the same time, the hero’s words acquire special meaning and become especially weighty. The author ends an obviously humorous chapter (Terkin’s one sentence to “help” the old woman fry lard is worth it!) with serious, hard-won words of the hero, which reach the reader’s heart and become his own conviction of victory.
Analysis of the chapter "Duel"
The chapter “Duel” has a special meaning in the poem “Vasily Terkin”, because in it the author shows hand-to-hand combat, Terkin’s one-on-one fight with the German, who “was strong and dexterous, well cut, tightly sewn,” but in this fight as Russia and Germany and their armies would come together in generalized but individual images: “Like on an ancient battlefield, Chest against chest, like shield against shield, - Instead of thousands, two fight, As if the fight will decide everything.” It turns out that the outcome of the entire war depends on the outcome of this fight between Vasily Terkin, and the hero understands this, he gives all his strength to this fight, he is ready to die, but only together with the enemy. The description of the fight in some places seems to have an epic character, in others it is naturalistic, but the hero knows that his moral superiority is over the enemy (“Are you a man? No. A scoundrel!” says Tyorkin about the German and proves this by describing the “exploits” of this warrior) should help him, he feels the powerful support of the whole country, the whole people: “A brave guy is fighting to the death. So the smoke stands damp, As if the whole country-power Sees Terkin: - Hero!” Tvardovsky shows that the origins of the courage and heroism of the Russian soldier lie precisely in this - in the feeling and understanding of his unity with the people, in the awareness of himself as part of the people, which makes it impossible to retreat in battle, no matter how difficult this battle may be.
Analysis of the chapter "Who Shot?"
Chapter "Who Shot?" begins with a description of the landscape, a “wonderful evening”, which belongs not to war, but to peaceful life, and this evening “disturbed” the soldiers who were accustomed to war and now seem to have returned to the peaceful life for which they are fighting. They seem to be transported into this peaceful life, but “with a terrible roar” a German plane appears, which brings death with it, and the pictures of peaceful life recede before the fear of death: “Now you are done for, now you are no longer there.” However, the author, understanding the reasons for this fear, still cannot agree that it is fitting for a Russian soldier to fear death: “No, comrade, evil and proud, As the law tells a soldier, Face death face to face...”. And one of the soldiers responds to his words, who “hits from his knee From a rifle at the plane,” and this “unequal battle, short battle” ends with the German plane crashing into the ground in a “corkscrew!” A magnificent detail: “The shooter himself looks with fear: What did he do by chance”! The chapter ends with Terkin’s words addressed to the sergeant, who said that “the guy is lucky, Lo and behold, the order is out of the bush”: “Don’t worry, this is not the German’s last plane...”, and the author’s humor helps to avoid unnecessary reasoning about heroism, about the feat that Tyorkin actually accomplished, and the author shows that the hero’s feat was not that he shot down a plane (this could just have been an accident), but that he was able to overcome his fear, challenge death and defeat it.
Analysis of the chapter "Death and the Warrior"
One of the most psychologically profound chapters of the poem “Vasily Terkin” by Tvardovsky is the chapter “Death and the Warrior,” in which the author shows the hero at perhaps the most difficult moment of his life: Terkin is seriously wounded, he is delirious, and in this delirium Death comes to him , with whom he talks and who convinces him to give up life himself: “One sign of agreement is needed, That you are tired of saving life, That you are praying for the hour of death...”. The hero’s complete surrender is if he himself begins to ask Death to “take” him, so she persuades him to give up the fight for life, explaining that it may happen that they will pick him up, and “you will regret that you did not die Here, on the spot, without any hassle.” ..." The weakened hero seems to give in to Death's persuasion ("And with Death it became beyond Man's strength to argue"), but he wants to bargain with her for at least one day to "walk among the living", but she refuses him this. This refusal is perceived by the hero as a sign that he must continue to fight for life: “So go away, Kosaya, I am a soldier still alive.” These words of the hero were not taken seriously by Death, she was sure that he would not get away from her, she was even ready to follow the soldiers from the funeral team, who became orderlies and were delivering the wounded to the medical battalion. The conversations of the half-dead soldiers and those who save him (“They take care of him, they carry him with caution”), giving him their mittens and the warmth of their souls, made Death “for the first time” think that she is not omnipotent, that her power must retreat and is retreating before the strength of human souls, before the strength of the soldier’s brotherhood, so she has to “reluctantly” give a “respite” to the wounded man, who is being torn from her hands by ordinary soldiers like himself. In this chapter of Tvardovsky’s work “Vasily Terkin,” which we analyzed, the author was able to show the unshakable strength of a soldier who will never be alone and can always count on the help and support of his comrades in arms in the common struggle for the freedom of the Motherland.
The poem “Vasily Terkin” is dated 1941-1945 - the difficult, terrible and heroic years of the struggle of the Soviet people against the Nazi invaders. In this work, Alexander Tvardovsky created the immortal image of a simple Soviet soldier, defender of the Fatherland, who became a kind of personification of deep patriotism and love for his Motherland.
History of creation
The poem began to be written in 1941. Selected excerpts were published in newspaper versions between 1942 and 1945. Also in 1942, the still unfinished work was published separately.
Oddly enough, work on the poem was started by Tvardovsky back in 1939. It was then that he already worked as a war correspondent and covered the progress of the Finnish military campaign in the newspaper “On Guard of the Motherland”. The name was coined in collaboration with members of the newspaper's editorial board. In 1940, a small brochure “Vasya Terkin at the Front” was published, which was considered a great reward among the soldiers.
The newspaper's readers liked the image of the Red Army soldier from the very beginning. Realizing this, Tvardovsky decided that this topic was promising and began to develop it.
From the very beginning of the Great Patriotic War, being at the front as a war correspondent, he found himself in the hottest battles. He gets surrounded with soldiers, gets out of it, retreats and goes on the attack, experiencing first-hand everything that he would like to write about.
In the spring of 1942, Tvardovsky arrived in Moscow, where he wrote the first chapters “From the Author” and “At a Rest”, and they were immediately published in the newspaper “Krasnoarmeyskaya Pravda”.
Tvardovsky could not have imagined such an explosion of popularity even in his wildest dreams. The central publications “Pravda”, “Izvestia”, “Znamya” reprint excerpts from the poem. On the radio, texts are read by Orlov and Levitan. The artist Orest Vereisky creates illustrations that finally formulate the image of a fighter. Tvardovsky holds creative evenings in hospitals, and also meets with work teams in the rear, raising morale.
As always, what the common people liked did not receive the support of the party. Tvardovsky was criticized for pessimism, for not mentioning that the party is in charge of all accomplishments and achievements. In this regard, the author wanted to finish the poem in 1943, but grateful readers did not allow him to do this. Tvardovsky had to agree to censorship edits, in return he was awarded the Stalin Prize for his now immortal work. The poem was completed in March 1945 - it was then that the author wrote the chapter “In the Bath”.
Description of the work
The poem has 30 chapters, which can be roughly divided into 3 parts. In four chapters, Tvardovsky does not talk about the hero, but simply talks about the war, about how much ordinary Soviet men who stood up to defend their Motherland had to endure, and hints at the progress of work on the book. The role of these digressions cannot be downplayed - this is a dialogue between the author and the readers, which he conducts directly, even bypassing his hero.
There is no clear chronological sequence in the course of the story. Moreover, the author does not name specific battles and battles, however, individual battles and operations highlighted in the history of the Great Patriotic War are discernible in the poem: the retreat of Soviet troops, so common in 1941 and 1942, the battle of the Volga, and, of course, the capture Berlin.
There is no strict plot in the poem - and the author did not have the task of conveying the course of the war. The central chapter is “Crossing”. The main idea of the work is clearly visible there - a military road. It is along this path that Terkin and his comrades move towards achieving their goal - complete victory over the Nazi invaders, and therefore, towards a new, better and free life.
Hero of the work
The main character is Vasily Terkin. A fictional character, cheerful, cheerful, straightforward, despite the difficult circumstances in which he lives during the war.
We observe Vasily in different situations - and everywhere we can note his positive qualities. Among his brothers-in-arms, he is the life of the party, a jokester who always finds an opportunity to joke and make others laugh. When he goes on the attack, he is an example for other fighters, showing his qualities such as resourcefulness, courage, and endurance. When he rests after a fight, he can sing, he plays the accordion, but at the same time he can answer quite harshly and with humor. When soldiers meet civilians, Vasily is all charm and modesty.
Courage and dignity, shown in all, even the most hopeless situations, are the main features that distinguish the main character of the work and form his image.
All the other characters in the poem are abstract - they don’t even have names. The brothers-in-arms, the general, the old man and the old woman - they all just play along, helping to reveal the image of the main character - Vasily Terkin.
Analysis of the work
Since Vasily Terkin does not have a real prototype, we can safely say that this is a kind of collective image that was created by the author, based on his real observations of soldiers.
The work has one distinctive feature that sets it apart from similar works of that time - the absence of an ideological principle. The poem contains no praise for the party or Comrade Stalin personally. This, according to the author, “would destroy the idea and figurative structure of the poem.”
The work uses two poetic meters: tetrameter and trimeter trochee. The first dimension occurs much more often, the second - only in certain chapters. The language of the poem became a kind of Tvardovsky card. Some moments that look like sayings and lines from funny songs, as they say, “went among the people” and began to be used in everyday speech. For example, the phrase “No, guys, I’m not proud, I agree to a medal” or “Soldiers surrender cities, generals take them from them” are used by many today.
It was on people like the main character of this poem in verse that all the hardships of the war fell. And only their human qualities - fortitude, optimism, humor, the ability to laugh at others and at themselves, in time to defuse a tense situation to the limit - helped them not only win, but also survive in this terrible and merciless war.
The poem is still alive and loved by the people. In 2015, the Russian Reporter magazine conducted sociological research into hundreds of the most popular poems in Russia. Lines from “Vasily Terkin” took 28th place, which suggests that the memory of the events of 70 years ago and the feat of those heroes is still alive in our memory.
Alexander Trifonovich Tvardovsky wrote an outstanding work about the war - the poem “Vasily Terkin”. The book was very much loved by almost everyone who read it, and this is no coincidence: after all, no one had ever written about the Great Patriotic War like this before Tvardovsky. Many outstanding commanders published their books in which they talked about plans for grandiose battles, the movements of armies, and the intricacies of the art of war. The military leaders knew and saw what they wrote about, and they had every right to cover this particular side of the war.
And another life, a soldier’s, about which you need to know no less than about strategy and tactics. It is very important to understand the problems, experiences and joys of the rank and file. It is probably difficult to imagine the life of a simple soldier for a person who did not take part in the war. Tvardovsky tells us about it very truthfully, without embellishment, without holding back anything. The writer himself was at the front and learned about everything first-hand.
Tvardovsky understood that the victory over Germany consisted of feats accomplished by ordinary people, ordinary soldiers, such as the main character of his poem, Vasily Terkin. Who was Vasily Terkin? A simple fighter
Which can very often be found in war. He had a sense of humor, because
In a one-minute war
Can't live without a joke
Jokes of the most unwise.
Tvardovsky himself says about him:
Terkin - who is he?
Let's be honest:
Just a guy being himself.
He's ordinary.
However, the guy is good.
A guy like that
Every company always has
And in every platoon.
In the chapter “Terkin - Terkin” we meet another fighter with the same surname and the same name, and he is also a hero. Terkin speaks of himself in the plural, thereby showing that he is a collective image:
And more than once on the usual path,
Along the roads, in the dust of columns,
I was partially distracted
And partially destroyed...
The first exploit of Terkin that we learn about is his escape from German captivity. In those days, he could have been shot for not committing suicide. This is exactly what the country's leadership called on all prisoners in Germany. But what is the fault of a person who ends up among the enemies? He didn't do it of his own free will. I think that because of this attitude of the country towards those captured (by the way, many were taken because of the miscalculations of the leaders, especially in the first months of the war), the unfortunate people went over to the side of the fascists. But Terkin was not afraid, he fled from there to again defend his homeland from the enemy. Despite this, he felt guilty:
I went into any house,
As if to blame for something
In front of her. What could he do?
Yes, indeed, he couldn’t do anything, that’s just the way things were. We see that often in war, soldiers feel guilty because someone died. When one of the platoons remained on the enemy bank during the crossing, the other soldiers avoided talking about it:
And the guys are silent about him
In the fighting family circle,
As if they were to blame for something,
Who's on the left bank?
The soldiers no longer hoped to see their comrades alive, they mentally said goodbye to them, and suddenly the watchmen saw some point in the distance. Of course, they discuss what they saw, express different opinions, but do not even dare to think that someone could swim from that shore alive.
But the fact of the matter is that Terkin again committed a heroic act - he reached his people through icy water, which is “cold even to fish.” By this, he saved the life not only of himself, but also of the entire platoon, for which people were sent.
Terkin acted very courageously; not everyone would dare to do this. The soldier asked the colonel for a second glass of vodka: “It’s two ends.” Terkin cannot leave his friends in the dark, so he swims back to the other side to please them with the successful outcome of his journey. And the danger for him is not only the cold, but also “the guns are firing in pitch darkness,” because
The battle is holy and right,
Mortal combat is not for glory
- For the sake of life on earth.
Protecting life on earth is the main job of a soldier, and sometimes he has to sacrifice his own life and health for this. In war you cannot do without injuries, and Terkin did not escape this either. He ended up in the Germans’ “cellar” to check whether the cannon was firing from there. The German sitting there fired and hit Terkin in the shoulder. Terkin spent a terrible day, “deafened by a heavy roar,” losing blood. They hit him with their own guns, and to die from your own is even more terrible than from your enemies.
Only a day later they found him, bleeding, “with a sallow face.” Needless to say, Terkin could well not have gone there, because no one forced him to go to the enemy alone.
Terkin’s attitude towards the award is interesting:
- No, guys, I'm not proud,
Without thinking into the distance,
So I’ll say: why do I need an order?
I agree to a medal.
Everywhere and always there are people who strive for high rewards; this is the main goal of their life. Of course, there were enough of these during the war. Many went out of their way just to receive the order. Moreover, usually these are people who do not particularly like to risk their lives, but rather sit at headquarters, curry favor with their superiors. As we understand from the words of the hero himself, he even needs the medal not for boasting, but as a memory of the war, and he deserved it:
Provide, since I am worthy.
And you all must understand:
It's the simplest thing
- The man came from the war.
In my opinion, refusing an order is also a kind of feat. Terkin had a terrible fight with a German:
So they came together, grappled closely,
What about clips, disks,
Machine guns - to hell, away!
If only a knife could help.
They fight one on one, “like on an ancient battlefield.” Tvardovsky understood perfectly well that such a fight is completely different, here everyone relies only on their own strength, it is like a return to the origins of martial art.
The outcome of any battle depends not only on the physical strength of the opponents; ultimately, all feelings and emotions decide. And in hand-to-hand combat, this dependence of the outcome of the fight on feelings is even more pronounced. At the beginning of the chapter “The Duel,” the author shows the physical superiority of the German, “fed with free goods.” But Terkin was angry that someone dared to show up in Russian houses, demand food for themselves, and restore “their own order” in the country. And Terkin was even more spurred on by the fact that the German swung his helmet at him:
Oh, there you are!
Fight with a helmet?
Aren't they vile people?
And this action of the German decided everything; the outcome of the fight was clear. Terkin took the “tongue” - the prey of the night. He accomplished the feat again, winning a terrible fight. Perhaps the creepiest place in “The Book of a Fighter” is the chapter “Death and the Warrior.” It tells how death came to our hero, who “lay unchosen.” Death tried to persuade him to surrender to it, but Terkin courageously refused, although it cost him a lot of effort. Death does not want to let his prey go so easily and does not leave the wounded man. Finally, when Terkin began to give in little by little, he asked Death a question:
I'm not the worst and I'm not the best
That I will die in the war.
But at the end of it, I obey.
Will you give me a day off?
From these words of the soldier, we understand that it is not even life that is most dear to him, he is ready to part with it, but he needs to see the victory of the Russians, he did not doubt it at all even at the very beginning of the war. Participation in the war against fascism, this most terrible and greatest event of the 20th century, is the main work of his life. Real fighters, such as Terkin, are not afraid of death, are not afraid of risk. They simply fight and perform exploits without thinking about the reward - the exploits of man in war.
Detailed solution Page / Part 2 216-217pp. on literature for 7th grade students, authors Petrovskaya L.K. 2010
READING, REFLECTING
1.Have you heard about Vasily Terkin before, before reading the poem? How do you explain such popularity of the hero and the poem?
Written in 1942, the poem gained great popularity and acquired the title of folk poem. This can be explained by the fact that the author seems to be conducting a confidential, relaxed conversation with the reader about how people lived during the war, touching on even the smallest details of front-line life. And at the same time, this is an open narrative about the intense struggle of soldiers, about a dramatic period in the life of the entire Russian people.
It is no coincidence that already with the appearance of the first chapters, the poem gained enormous popularity among soldiers. The soldiers saw themselves, their comrades, in the image of Terkin. Vasily Terkin was accepted and enlisted in the ranks of the warriors “dressed in the fair overcoat of a fighter.”
2.What is the poem about? Why did Tvardovsky, in addition to the title, give it a subtitle - “A Book about a Fighter”? How does the poet himself explain the intent of the poem?
"Vasily Terkin" - a poem about a fighter. But this far from exhausts its deep meaning and great significance. Reading the work, we see the entire course of the war from its first to its last days. All the thoughts and experiences of the heroes are focused on the Motherland, the image of which runs through the entire poem, containing the meaning of the entire people’s struggle:
The battle is holy and right,
Mortal combat is not for glory,
For the sake of life on earth.
The work is distinguished by a masterful combination of humor and lyrical confession, almost fabulous elements and a truthful description of real military reality. According to numerous statements, “The Book about a Soldier” was perceived as the best of what our Russian poetry created during the Patriotic War.
In the spring of 1941, the poet worked hard on the chapters of his future poem, but the outbreak of war postponed these plans. “The revival of the plan and the resumption of work on Terkin,” wrote A.L. Grishunin, - dates back to mid-1942.” - from this time a new stage of work on the work begins. “The entire character of the poem, its entire content, its philosophy, its hero, its form - composition, genre, plot - have changed. The nature of the poetic narrative about the war has changed - the homeland and the people, the people in the war, have become the main themes.”
The first publication of “Vasily Terkin” took place in the newspaper of the Western Front “Krasnoarmeyskaya Pravda”, where on September 4, 1942 the introductory chapter “From the author” and the chapter “At a halt” were published. From then until the end of the war, chapters of the poem were published in this newspaper, in the magazines “Red Army Man” and “Znamya”, as well as in other print media. In addition, since 1942, the poem has been published several times in separate editions. The poet wrote about the significance of this new stage in his creative activity: “From the time the chapters of the first part of Terkin appeared in print, it became my main and main work at the front.”
3.You read only five of the thirty chapters of the poem in the textbook. (Try to read it completely.) What do all the chapters have in common? Did you have a holistic understanding of the main character and the life of soldiers during the war? What is unique about the composition of the poem? How does the author explain this?
The composition of the work is very interesting. In the very first chapter, the author himself talks about the features of his creation: A book about a fighter Without beginning, without end. Why so - without a beginning? Because time is not enough. Start it all over again. Why without end? I just feel sorry for the guy. (“From the author”)
The poem “Vasily Terkin” was created by Tvardovsky during the Great Patriotic War and consists of separate chapters, separate sketches, which are united by the image of the main character. After the war, the author did not begin to supplement the poem with new episodes, that is, to come up with an exposition (expanding the pre-war history of Tyorkin) and a plot (for example, depicting the hero’s first battle with the Nazis). Tvardovsky simply added in 1945-1946 the introduction “From the author” and the conclusion “From the author”. Thus, the poem turned out to be very original in composition: there is no usual exposition, plot, climax, or denouement in the overall storyline. Because of this, Tvardovsky himself found it difficult to determine the genre of “Vasily Terkin”: after all, the poem involves a plot narrative.
With a free construction of the overall storyline, each chapter has its own complete plot and composition.
But these chapters give us a detailed idea of Terkin and the life of soldiers in the war. It’s not for nothing that she became so popular among the soldiers.
4. In what situations did you see Terkin? How does he behave in them? Can his actions (in the chapters “Crossing”, “Who Shot?”) be called exploits? What does he think? (Support with the lines of the poem.) What, in your opinion, makes Tyorkin invincible?
Vasily's character is revealed gradually. Throughout the book, the author shows Terkin from different sides. The hero shows real courage and courage in the chapter “Crossing”. Terkin swam in water that is “cold even to fish.”
But anyway
the banks have a crust
Having broken off the ice,
He is like him, Vasily Terkin,
I got up alive and got there by swimming.
The chapter “Crossing” describes how Terkin accomplished a feat when, having found himself on the right bank, he returned by swimming to the left to ask for support. The crossing is dangerous both for Vasily Terkin’s comrades and for himself:
People are warm and alive
We went to the bottom, to the bottom, to the bottom...
Vasily Terkin bravely agrees to swim across the icy river, and when he finds himself on the opposite bank, frozen and tired, he immediately begins to report, showing his responsibility and sense of duty:
Allow me to report...
The platoon on the right bank is alive and well
to spite the enemy!
In the chapter “Who Shot?” the author talks about Terkin’s courage. Vasily “did not hide in a trench, remembering all his relatives,” but stood up and began shooting “from his knee with a rifle at the plane.” And in this unequal duel Terkin emerges victorious. They even gave him an order:
This is what happiness means to a guy,
Lo and behold, the order came straight out of the bush!
Terkin performed feats every day, as thousands of Soviet soldiers did. But he himself did not consider this a feat; without sparing himself, he defended everything that was dear to him.
Are they partly to blame?
And the sergeant said simply:
- This is what happiness means to a guy,
Lo and behold, the order came straight out of the bush!
Without delaying the answer,
The guy hands over the change:
- Don’t worry, the German has this -
Not the last plane...
With this joke and saying,
Flown around the battalion,
Turned into heroes Terkin, -
It was, of course, him.
What makes Terkin invincible is humor and the fact that he never considered himself a hero.
What can you say about Tyorkin based on the chapters “Accordion” and “Two Soldiers”? How does he endear you to you? Why during the war years did many soldiers believe that Tyorkin was a “non-fictional person”? What features of the Russian “miracle man” did Tvardovsky embody in this image?
In the chapter “Two Soldiers” Terkin the worker is shown. A meeting between two soldiers is described. One is old, a soldier of the First World War, and the other is young. Terkin is a master in every task: he can repair a watch, adjust a saw, play the accordion. Vasily is confident of victory:
And said:
We'll beat you, father...
In the chapter “Harmon” Terkin returns from the hospital after being wounded; on the way he meets the tankers who saved him, plays the accordion that belonged to their killed commander, and they give the accordion to him as a farewell. In this chapter A.T. Tvardovsky notes:
At least something for these guys,
From the spot - into the water and into the fire.
These lines emphasize the fearlessness of Russian soldiers, their ability to adapt to the most difficult battle conditions and find the strength to resist the enemy in any situation.
The hero evokes our sympathies - we like this resilient man, a skillful man and a daredevil from the very first lines. Many soldiers considered him real, he was so popular and close to them.
The image of the main character Vasily Terkin, a simple Russian soldier, is an example of human dignity, courage, love for the Motherland, honesty and selflessness. All these qualities of the hero are revealed in each chapter of the work.
Since the work was written during the war, it goes without saying that the main qualities of the hero, which the author focuses on, are selfless courage, heroism, a sense of duty and responsibility.
He is a symbolic image, a people-man, a collective Russian type. It is no coincidence that nothing is said about his personal biography. He is “a great hunter of living until he is ninety years old,” a peaceful, civilian man, a soldier by necessity. His usual life on the collective farm was interrupted by the war. War for him is a natural disaster, hard work. The entire poem is permeated with a dream of a peaceful life.
Already at the first mention, the surname Terkin outlines the boundaries of character: Terkin means an experienced, seasoned man, “a seasoned kalach,” or, as the poem says, “a seasoned man.”
From the first days of the bitter year,
The world heard through the menacing thunder,
Vasily Terkin repeated:
Terkin - who is he?
Let's be honest:
Just a guy himself
He's ordinary.
Terkin’s image is a generalized image, for all its realism and ordinariness. Tvardovsky gives his hero an “all-Russian” appearance and avoids portrait marks.
("Endowed with beauty / He was not excellent. / Not tall, not that small, / But a hero-hero.") Terkin is both a bright, unique personality, and at the same time he includes the features of many people, he is like would be repeated many times in others.
It is important that Terkin belongs to the most massive branch of the military - the infantry. The hero is an infantryman. “It contains the pathos of the infantry, the army closest to the earth, to the cold, to fire and death,” Tvardovsky wrote at the very beginning of his plan. Terkin is one of the unskilled workers of the war, on whom the country rests, who bore the burden of the war on their shoulders.
5. Does Tyorkin remind you of the hero of folk tales (for example, in the chapter “Two Soldiers”, etc.)? What can you say about his speech? In one of the letters from the front there are lines about Tyorkin: “His sharp sayings become aphorisms that our soldiers love and decorate their conversations with them.” Tyorkin’s famous proverb - “we’ll endure it, we’ll grind it out” - not only helps to understand the origin of his last name, but also speaks of the main trait of the people’s character - resilience. Give examples of Terkinsky humor, his jokes, aphorisms that helped soldiers endure the hardships of war, instilled in them cheerfulness and faith in victory.
How do the language, rhythm, and intonation of the poem help you feel its folk character?
In this poem, folklore plays a leading role. In Russian folklore there are many tales about a soldier - a cheerful, cheerful fellow who will cook porridge from an ax, outwit the devil, and help in a good deed. The writer relied on this folklore tradition when creating his Terkin. He is also a peasant guy, an ordinary infantryman, who learned the soldier’s science in battles, a joker who will not mince his words, who knows how to support his comrades in the most difficult moments with a cheerful word, a simple tale, and, if necessary, lead him into an attack.
And yet Terkin is not a copy of the folk hero. He is one of many. He knows the longing for his relatives who remained in the Smolensk side. He knew the bitterness of retreat and, making his way through Russian land to his own, he went into peasant huts and hid his eyes from the housewives, as if he alone was to blame for the defeat in the first month of the war.
In folklore, the inner world of a person is not depicted in detail, but Tvardovsky is precisely interested in the soul of a person in war. The writer shows the war through the eyes of an ordinary soldier, an unceremonious war when heroism is not visible.
Terkin's aphorisms:
No, guys, I'm not proud, I agree to a medal.
The battle is not for the sake of glory, for the sake of life on earth.
Cities are surrendered by soldiers, generals take them.
Don't look at what's on your chest, but look at what's ahead
The poem “Vasily Terkin” delights with the simplicity and naturalness of intonation and language, and the perfection of the verse.
The use of colloquial language helps create the impression of maximum authenticity. Thanks to this, not only monologues, but also dialogues, crowd scenes and the narrator’s narration become “close to living reality”.
The hero's conversations are based on the technique of skaz. The fabulous nature of Terkin’s monologues is confirmed by the inclusion of addresses in them (“hear”, “friends”, “lads”, “brothers”, “guys”), and vernacular (“The rod of a thousand German tanks”). All these features are characteristic of both other characters and the lyrical hero’s narrative.
Terkin is a nugget, the embodiment of the national spirit. He is fluent in literary language, but his main talent is all-consuming humor. The origin of the hero is related to the author, also “Smolensk”, but Terkin’s homeland is the entire “motherland”. The independence of character traits from the origin of the hero is humorously emphasized in the statements of Terkin himself: “I was born from an aunt.”
In the text of the poem, one can identify passages in which the rhythm of the main meter - trochaic tetrameter, reminiscent of folk works - is disrupted.
6. In the first chapter of the poem there are these words:
And more than anything else
Not to live for sure -
Without which? Without real truth,
Truth that hits straight to the soul...
No matter how bitter it may be.
How does Tvardovsky show the truth of war - the people's war, the patriotic one?
The war is depicted by Tvardovsky in blood, labor and hardship. Endless night, frost. But a bit of a soldier’s sleep, not even a dream, but a heavy oblivion, bizarrely mixed with reality. In the minds of those who remained on this left bank, pictures of the death of their comrades arise. Their possible death is depicted in mundane - but even more terrible - details. The poet ends his thoughts about the soldiers who died at the crossing, and not only about these soldiers, with pathetic lines.
The dead are immortal, and the land where “their traces are frozen forever” becomes a monument to soldier’s glory.
The war described by Alexander Trifonovich Tvardovsky in the poem does not seem to the reader a universal catastrophe, an unspeakable horror. Since the main character of the work - Vasya Terkin - is always able to survive in difficult conditions, laugh at himself, support a friend, and this is especially important for the reader - it means that there will be a different life, people will start laughing heartily, singing songs loudly, joking - a time of peace will come . The poem “Vasily Terkin” is full of optimism, faith in a better future.
What are the most tragic aspects of the war captured by the poet in the chapter “Crossing”? Which episodes and lines seem the most bitter to you? And when and why do humorous notes appear in the same chapter?
One of the most striking and memorable in the poem is the chapter “Crossing”. A.T. Tvardovsky depicts one of the episodes of the war in it, emphasizing the rich traditions of the glorious exploits of Russian soldiers - defenders of their native land: “They walk the same harsh path that two hundred years ago the Russian toiling soldier walked with a flintlock gun.”
The crossing is a difficult test of strength and endurance. Courage. The symbols of this test are the roar of water and the rotting ice. And an alien night, and an inaccessible forest, “the right bank is like a wall.” All these images of the natural world turn out to be hostile towards humans. A.T. Tvardovsky in the poem does not embellish reality, does not hide victims and failures, but depicts military actions and losses in all the terrifying and tragic truth: “Warm, living people went to the bottom, to the bottom, to the bottom...”. The repetition enhances the depth of the tragedy experienced by the author and shows the scale of the “blood trail.” The bitterness of the losses is enhanced by the picture depicting dead faces on which the snow does not melt. This fragment of the poem is not devoid of naturalism. Further, the author mentions that rations are still issued to the dead, and old letters written by them are sent home by mail. These details also emphasize the irreplaceability of the loss. The scale of the tragedy is enlarged with the help of toponymy: “From Ryazan, from Kazan, From Siberia, from Moscow - The soldiers are sleeping. They said theirs and are forever right.”
In the chapter “Crossing” Vasily Terkin miraculously remains alive and also brings the good news that the first platoon that managed to cross to the right bank is alive. At the same time, he jokes, begging for another “stack”, to warm himself up from the inside.
The chapter ends with a succinct and laconic summary: “The battle is holy and just. Mortal combat is not for the sake of glory, for the sake of life on earth.”
We see the same combination of tragedy and humor in the chapter “Who Shot?”
Find and read the corresponding lines. Literary critic V. Ya. Lakshin wrote about the poem: “You will see its humor - and next to it is a hidden tragedy. You will understand military life, but also the essence of a people's war. You recognize the simpleton hero, but next to him is the smart, complex man Tyorkin...” The truth of the poem about the war is not only in the transfer of pictures of battle, front-line life, it is in the depiction of the “soul of a fighter.” The poet tried to tell what he thinks about, what a soldier feels in war, what leads him into battle, helps him survive and win. Look for answers to these questions in the text of the poem and read them.
In the chapter “Who Shot? “The author talks about Terkin’s courage. Vasily “did not hide in a trench, remembering all his relatives,” but stood up and began shooting “from his knee with a rifle at the plane.” And in this unequal duel Terkin emerges victorious. There are also combinations of humor (Terkin’s jokes during the presentation of the medal) and tragedy (the author writes about death, describing the burial of dead soldiers at different times of the year, describes the picture of killed soldiers, young ones, heavy thoughts about the home of those still alive).
Can we say that “Vasily Terkin” is a poem not only about war, but also about peace? (Remember the first stanzas of the chapter “Who Shot?” or the chapter “Two Soldiers”.)
In the chapter “Who Shot”:
“The trenches smell of arable land,
Peaceful and simple summer..."
In the chapter “Two Soldiers,” in the relationship between an old man and an old woman, Terkin does not pick up a gun, but is engaged in completely peaceful work - repairing a saw and a watch. Enjoys scrambled eggs and lard. They talk, share memories...
Which lines, repeated more than once in the poem, express its main idea?
The lines that embody the courage of the Soviet soldier in his defense of justice are repeated as a refrain in the poem in its different chapters - “A terrible battle is going on, bloody, / A terrible battle not for the sake of glory, / For the sake of life on earth”; “Into battle, forward, into utter fire / He goes, holy and sinful, / Russian miracle man!”
It's also possible:
And more than anything else
Not to live for sure -
Without which? Without real truth,
Truth that hits right into the soul,
If only it were thicker
No matter how bitter it may be.
7. V. Ya. Lakshin wrote in the article “The Book of a Special Destiny”: “When the sculptor S. T. Konenkov decided to sculpt Tyorkin, he persuaded Tvardovsky to pose for him for at least two or three sessions - it was not supposed to be a portrait of the poet, but sketch for Tyorkin. And that's probably right. Of course, Tvardovsky is not Terkin, but through the features of the hero it must
his face was visible, and what a pity that the sculptor did not realize this plan.” What features of Tvardovsky - a poet and a person - can readers of the poem “Vasily Terkin” “see”? Do you agree with the words of S. Ya. Marshak (see epigraph on p. 214)?
A. T. Tvardovsky wrote about the war firsthand. At the very beginning of the war, he, like many other writers and poets, went to the front. And walking along the roads of war, the poet creates an amazing monument to the Russian soldier and his feat. The hero of “The Book about a Soldier,” as the author himself defined the genre of his work, is Vasily Terkin, who is a collective image of a Russian soldier. But there is another hero in the book - the author himself. Some facts from the poem coincide with the real biography of A. T. Tvardovsky, the author is clearly endowed with many of Terkin’s traits, they are constantly together (“Terkin - further. The author follows”). This allows us to say that the author in the poem is also a man of the people, a Russian soldier, who differs from Terkin, in fact, only in that “he completed his course in the capital.” A. T. Tvardovsky makes Terkin his fellow countryman. And therefore the words
I'm trembling from acute pain,
Bitter and holy malice.
Mother, father, sisters
Behind that line I have -
become the words of both the author and his hero. Amazing lyricism colors those lines of the poem that talk about the “small homeland” that each of the soldiers who took part in the war had. The author loves his hero and admires his actions. They are always unanimous:
And I’ll tell you, I won’t hide it, -
In this book, here and there,
What a hero should say
I speak personally myself.
I am responsible for everything around me,
And notice, if you didn’t notice,
Like Terkin, my hero,
Sometimes it speaks for me.
In the poem we see a poet who loves his homeland, an open, honest, truthful, simple person. Marshak’s words are true, Tvardovsky, like no one else, was able to understand the soul of the common people, because his work became popular and beloved, scattered into quotes, many knew it by heart.
8. “The Book about a Fighter” was illustrated by the poet’s friend (from 1942 until the end of his life) - the artist Orest Vereisky. What, in your opinion, did he manage to convey in the drawings for the poem (see pp. 219, 243)?
P.219. The image of Vasily Terkin is clearly presented - a smiling, simple, young, very handsome warrior, soldier, appears before us as if alive. Kind eyes, an open smile - the real Vasily Terkin is in front of us.
The hero sits with his back to us, the image of his grandfather is clearly visible - a long gray beard, but the old man is still strong and broad in the shoulders. In the background, an old lady is preparing dinner.
9.Look at the reproduction of the painting by Yu. Neprintsev “Rest after the battle” (on the flyleaf of Part III of Part 2 of the textbook). How does it remind you of Tvardovsky’s poem? Which soldier is like Terkin? Why did you decide so?
On his canvas, the artist depicted soldiers who settled down to rest right in the snow. One soldier smokes, the other says something. Each fighter is busy with his own business, but all these guys are united by an ardent love for the Motherland. They are calm and cheerful, so it’s hard to believe that just a moment ago they were fighting enemies, risking their lives.
This is how they appear before us in the poem “Vasily Terkin”.
In the center of the picture, one fighter stands out, holding a bright red pouch in his hands. A man tells those present something funny. He doesn’t let his friends get bored and discouraged, he jokes around, raising the spirit of the fighters. The narrator truly amuses those around him with his joke. This is very noticeable in Neprintsev’s painting. This fighter is reminiscent of Vasily Terkin - he is the life of the party, it is clear that everyone listens to him with interest.
Probably, the battle had just ended and the soldiers went out to rest: one was clearly hungry and was eating something with gusto, others were silently smoking or listening to friends, thinking about their own things. Of course, war is a terrible thing, but you can’t constantly grieve at the front if your heart is very heavy. Daily losses and other dramatic events were difficult for people to experience. And when there were short moments of rest, the soldiers could calm down, rejoice at their small victory and the fact that they had liberated another inch of their native land.
Those around you stopped for a while, rested and moved on. They are probably in a hurry to win back the Fatherland with their blood, to fight for it until their last breath. Therefore, the soldiers have no time to think, they need to hurry to beat the Germans. From the spirit of the picture, from the mood of the soldiers, it is clear that at that time there was a rapid advance of the Red Army. It is extremely difficult to lose your loved ones and friends, but then people had a passionate desire to quickly free their land from the invaders who unceremoniously invaded their native land.
10. In different countries of the world, monuments to literary heroes have been erected (Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, Sherlock Holmes, Baron Munchausen, the Little Mermaid, etc.). Why did they decide to erect a monument to Vasily Terkin using public funds in Russia?
Because he is a national hero and loved by everyone.
A. T. Tvardovsky wrote an outstanding work about the war - the poem “Vasily Terkin”.
Tvardovsky’s literary hero rightfully deserved to have a monument erected to him. After all, along with him, the monument is also received by millions of those who in one way or another resembled Vasily, who loved their country and did not spare their blood, who found a way out of a difficult situation and knew how to brighten up the difficulties at the front with a joke, who loved to play or listen to music at a rest stop.
Who was Vasily Terkin? A simple fighter, the kind you can often meet in war. Tvardovsky himself says about him:
Terkin - who is he?
Let's be honest:
Just a guy being himself.
He's ordinary.
The work of Alexander Trifonovich is written in easy, figurative, folk language. His poems are memorable on their own. The author suggests:
In short, a book from the middle
And let's begin. And it will go there.
But he does not lose heart. Lives and enjoys life. Today this quality is so lacking in many people. Terkin cannot but delight with his love of life. After all, he
In the kitchen - from a place, from a place - into battle.
Smokes, eats and drinks with gusto
Any position.
He can swim across an icy river, dragging, straining, his tongue. But here is a forced stop, “and it’s frosty - you can’t stand or sit down...”. And Terkin started playing someone else’s accordion.
And from that old accordion,
That I was left an orphan
Somehow it suddenly became warmer
On the front road.
Terkin is the soul of the soldier's company. It’s not for nothing that his comrades love to listen to his sometimes humorous or sometimes very serious stories. Here they lie in the swamps, where the “wet” infantry even dreams of “even death, but on dry land.” And Terkin grins and begins a long argument. He says that as long as a soldier feels the elbow of his comrade, he is strong. Behind him is a battalion, a regiment, a division. Or even the front. Why, all of Russia!
He had such talent. Such a talent that, lying in the dampness, his comrades laughed, they felt better.
In the chapter “Terkin - Terkin” we meet another fighter with the same surname and the same name, and he is also a hero. One could meet many such heroes on the roads of war.
However, the guy is good.
A guy like that
Every company always has
And in every platoon.
Real fighters, such as Terkin, are not afraid of death, are not afraid of risk. They fight for their homeland and perform feats, not thinking about the reward, but “for the sake of life on earth.”
Vasily Terkin has become one of the favorite literary heroes of many readers. In the image of Terkin, Tvardovsky portrays the best traits of the Russian character - courage, perseverance, resourcefulness, optimism and great devotion to his native land.
Our dear mother earth,
